Some Like It Hot

I think it's always fun to find new, more sophisticated versions of songs for my older students.  Songs that have familiarity but are fresh and challenge them to sing, play and read melodic and rhythmic concepts that are grade level appropriate. 

Here's today's example.  We all know this song:

I use it with my first graders to teach and reinforce the rhythmic concept of quarter rest and I bring it back in second grade when we learn to read "do" on the treble staff.

Here's a more sophisticated version of the song from Trinidad:

Game:  Circle, with one player in the center.

Action:  The center player in the middle holds up one finger in the middle of the circle while the verse is sung.  During the chorus ("some like it hot"), the ring players start clapping the beat while the center player improvises a dance.  On the second line of the chorus ("sweet porridge hot. . .") the center player chooses another person to join them in the middle.  The song continues but the song is now sung "two fingers. . ." as each of the players in the middle are holding up one finger.  The chorus is the same, with each of the two players in the middle choosing another player to come to the middle.  The third time through the verse it's now "four fingers. . .".  This repeats with singing the verse (four fingers) and each of the players choosing another person from the ring.  It then goes to "eight fingers" but never passes that as there are only 10 fingers on a hand, so the text when there are more then 10 players is "all fingers."

I love the familiarity that comes with this song.  It's also a great song for reinforcing low "ti".  The movement improvisation lends itself to be a lot of fun.